Pan's Triumph

Sometimes horror isn’t very well done. Instead it often leads to same rehash, simple trickery. It never lifts above the normal par of most abysmal films.

It could be that horror films are running out of ideas.

Yet there are some horror films that remind us that there are some unexplored territory. Yesterday sees the DVD release of a very special film indeed. Pan’s Labyrinth is once again unleashed on the unsuspecting audiences.

Perhaps a fairy tale. But not for those with weak stomachs.

Pan’s Labyrinth, despite its occasional dips into graphic violence, eludes to a higher plight of storytelling. This is how horror films should be made. Not a senseless hacking that wears and tears. But a horror film with thought. It has something to say.

The film is a remarkable journey of a child who peels back the layers of reality as she drowns herself in a world of illusions and fantasy. She lingers in a fairy tale set against a war-torn background of 1944 Spain.

She discovers through simple curiosity of a garden maze that leads her to a great god Pan who is one with the earth, ground and everything else. A spiritual guide between worlds. Pan is played by Doug Jones of Hellboy fame.

That’s when reality and illusion begins to blur. For the child Ofelia.

But she has good reason to escape the grim reality that terrorizes her at every corner. The smoldering reflection of the real world dwells in shooting of soldiers who mercilessly ravages each other with guns. The noise of bombs can be heard at a distance. The war seems closer to home. Everything is seen through her point of view.

Futher she dislikes her father-in-law Captain Vidal who leads an outpost of army soldiers against the resistance. She lives with her mother who’s pregnant with the brutal man’s son. Her mother lives on the edge of her life—giving birth to the son could mean the end of her.

But death seems to be constant company for Ofelia.

Her imagination is the only tool to salvation. She seeks it. She thrives in its strange beauty. Ofelia dreams of a different place, far from here, where she can be a princess, reuniting with her family. The cost of sanity proves too much as she sinks deeper into the blasted ruins of Spain.

The darkly realized film, taunt with chilling spells of atmosphere, thrusts forward with relentless gloom. Everywhere is darkness. The woods in which the little girl ventures into become something of a cluttered, horrible place. The searing blackness revels in nightmarish tones as she slips deeper into the savage world. Not a place she wants to be. She prefers to live in the safety of her fairy tales.

But even the fairy tales prove to be an ugly thing.

Director and writer Guillermo del Toro goes back to his native land of Spain to find something of a bleak story. The tragic fall of children’s stories and the brutal failing of adulthood. He brings the two words closer together to create a landscape where nothing is real anymore.

The film is a literary expression. There’s still plenty of scenes revels in gore splattered horror. Captain Vidal’s delight in causing suffering for others. The painful birth scene that runs with a river of red. They all seemingly piece together a nightmare world. As the child’s mother said in the film, “As you’ll grow older, you’ll find the world is a cruel place.”

There is no arguing with her. Those words take on a menacing foreshadowing as we find landscape of monstrous creatures inhabiting the fairy tale world. The cold chill of moods renders you helpless as you watch the psychological fall of Vidal who goes on a murdering rant.

There are two sides of the story. You can choose one or the other to make sense of it.
But the horror is everywhere.

The horror film has won three academy awards. It’s not without its merits.

An incredible experience down the winding, creaking stone road that spills into black, murky worlds. You’ll have little girl Ofelia to lead you. And you’ll never look at a fairy tale the same way again.

A Web of Intrigue?

I heard the mixed reviews of Spiderman 3 during the course of last week. People loved or hated it. Depending on their moods.

I was worried. I might end up not liking the film.

I got advanced tickets for the webslinging flick. I managed to see the film during the Friday night showing. Not surprisingly, it was crowded.

But I did like the film. A lot.

It paled slightly in comparison with the previous two Spiderman films. But that’s a minor quibble. I’m not going to spend my time nit-picking the details. That’s a chore for critics who have no life.

After leaving Spiderman 3 in the theaters, probably the last time seeing the wall-crawler in action, I felt it reached a satisfactory conclusion that might be otherwise been muddled. It’s always a difficult thing for a movie series to wrap up, like a going-away present. You’re not sure which ribbon to use, what kind of gift wrapping you’ll use. If the inside surprise was going to be worth opening for.

But helming the directorial seat, Sam Raimi did a respectable job.

I walked away knowing there’s a closure to the story. As if the last chapter of the movie was tucked away, laid to rest. There were no longer any loose strings.

The fact that the story came around full circle brought home more impact. The father and son legacy had been managed nicely, finally given a funeral and mournful last few moments in Spiderman 3. The father Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, was killed by his own hand in the first film, leaving an embittered son in his tracks. But Spiderman 3 saw the son making amends for his father. The son had been on a self-destructive path before making a right choice.

But it ends in tragedy.

It built the story that housed the film. Even all three Spiderman flicks.

Peter, Mary Jane and Harry. Watch the films again. It's about them.

The transformation scenes of Venom, a shade of blackness taking over the human soul like an ugly plague, were both delightful and funny. Tobey McGuire was given a chance to give a more comedic, while dangerously witty, performance. The scenes with the Jazz Room were hilarious, giving lighter fare to the film that might fall into too deeply into the darker side.

The moments where he was slowly shifting into a darker, menacing shadow of himself were clearly something to behold. You realized even the most gentle citizen like Peter Parker could be a monster.

And the monster lived inside all of us. Perhaps this was what the movie was teaching us.

Were there too many villains in the movie? That might be something problematic in superhero movie series such as this one. But I did not feel overwhelmed by the presence of the so-called bad guys. They helped to give the film some weight exploring the blacker side of humanity. It would have given William Faukner a tingle if he had seen this one.

But I did like the character of Sandman who was given an extra touch of character. He could’ve been just another common criminal. Someone who had a grudge against New York City’s favorite spider. He was given a connection with Ben Parker’s death. It left a confused, regretful man, feeling an emotional pain for accidentally killing a man. He was not a brutal person at heart. But a flawed, hurting man who were troubled by shades of his own guilt. The character was very well-realized. And his story was a nice touch to the movie that needed it.

There might not be anymore Spiderman movies. But it did leave a funeral like ending. A sadness hanging over our heads. Yes, I will miss the characters who formed the entire movie series with their sympathetic portraits. We managed to get see the heart of New York City through the point of view of three young people. We should consider ourselves lucky enough.